The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund today announces that it has received the intellectual property rights to the Comics Code Authority Seal of Approval in an assignment from the now-defunct Comic Magazine Association of America, which administrated the Code since the 1950s.

The Comics Code Seal comes to the CBLDF during Banned Books Week, a national celebration of the freedom to read, and just a few months following a decision in the U.S. Supreme Court where Justice Scalia cited CBLDF’s brief addressing the comics industry’s history of government scrutiny and the subsequent self-regulation the Comics Code represented. Dr. Amy Nyberg, author of Seal of Approval: The History of Comics Code has prepared a short history of the Comics Code Seal and the era of censorship it represents exclusively for CBLDF that is available now in the Resources section of cbldf.org.

CBLDF Executive Director Charles Brownstein says, “As we reflect upon the challenges facing intellectual freedom during Banned Books Week, the Comics Code Seal is a reminder that it’s possible for an entire creative field to have those rights curtailed because of government, public, and market pressures. Fortunately, today comics are no longer constrained as they were in the days of the Code, but that’s not something we can take for granted. Banned Books Week reminds us that challenges to free speech still occur, and we must always be vigilant in fighting them.”

The CBLDF will take over licensing of products bearing the Comics Code Seal, including t-shirts, providing a modest source of income for the organization’s First Amendment legal work. Graphitti Designs is currently offering t-shirts with the Code Seal to benefit CBLDF.

Brownstein adds “It’s a progressive change that the Comics Code seal, which is yesterday’s symbol of comics censorship, will now be used to raise money to protect the First Amendment challenges comics face in the future. That goal probably would have been unimaginable to the Code’s founders, who were part of a generation of comics professionals that were fleeing a witch-hunt that nearly trampled comics and any notion that they deserved any First Amendment protection.”

The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is a 501c3 not for profit organization dedicated to protecting the First Amendment rights of the comics field. It is currently in the midst of Be Counted, a member drive aiming to raise $100,000 for urgently needed First Amendment legal and education work. To learn more about the CBLDF and to support its efforts, please visit www.cbldf.org

Wayne

9/29/2011 02:01:10 pm

Does it even matter? Who is buying books based on whether or not it has the code stamp on it or not? To be honest the self rating system that the companies have established is FAR more effective than the Code ever was.

Brian

9/29/2011 08:35:34 pm

I think this is more of a merchandising thing for CBLDF to offset some of their expenses by selling t-shirts and things to long time comic fans.

Wayne

9/30/2011 06:00:32 am

I have to take exception with the CBLDF calling the code a tool of censorship. If anything it prevented censorship. Now granted had they not instituted the code the government would have probably put regulations into place that would have censored the comic industry (thank you big government :( ). But that does not detract from the fact the code was self imposed, and probably did less censoring than the government would have. We will never know but it is possible that the code has helped the comic industry by keeping the government's fingers off of it.

matman

9/30/2011 07:46:12 am

i was an early supporter of the cbldf and i don't like censorship at all, but i have pulled away from them over the years. i thought this was an interesting story because an anti censorship group is using a censorship logo. i know history shows the comics code hurt many publishers (ec in particular) but for me the logo meant so much.

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